Estimating the volcanic emission rate and atmospheric lifetime of SOsub2/sub from space: a case study for K??lauea volcano, Hawai`i

摘要

pstrongAbstract./strong We present an analysis of SOsub2/sub column densities derived from GOME-2 satellite measurements for the K??lauea volcano (Hawai`i) for 2007a??2012. During a period of enhanced degassing activity in Marcha??November 2008, monthly mean SOsub2/sub emission rates and effective SOsub2/sub lifetimes are determined simultaneously from the observed downwind plume evolution and meteorological wind fields, without further model input. K??lauea is particularly suited for quantitative investigations from satellite observations owing to the absence of interfering sources, the clearly defined downwind plumes caused by steady trade winds, and generally low cloud fractions. For Marcha??November 2008, the effective SOsub2/sub lifetime is 1a??2 days, and K??lauea SOsub2/sub emission rates are 9a??21 kt daysup−1/sup, which is about 3 times higher than initially reported from ground-based monitoring systems./p.